Yankees’ Jones gives M’s some heartache

SEATTLE – As theater, this was great stuff Tuesday at Safeco Field. Not particularly great or clean baseball, but entertaining. The end, though, brought only more heartbreak for Seattle’s fading Mariners. Victory slipped away when Fernando Rodney couldn’t hold a one-run lead in the ninth inning and defeat arrived in the 11th: Garrett Jones hit a three-run homer that lifted the New York Yankees to a 5-3 victory. Stephen Drew tied the game with a two-out RBI double against Rodney in the ninth inning and started the winning rally with a two-out single in the 11th against Tom Wilhelmsen. When Brett Gardner followed with a double that moved Drew to third, the Mariners summoned Joe Beimel, who served up Jones’ winning blast on a 2-0 fastball. This was a crushing loss for the Mariners, who have now dropped four in a row and find themselves 81/2 games behind first-place Houston in the American League West Division. Yankees closer Andrew Miller gave up one run before securing the victory for his 16th save. Justin Wilson (2-0) got the victory after pitching a scoreless 10th inning. Wilhelmsen (1-1) was the loser. It was a wild ride. Austin Jackson had, perhaps, his best game as a Mariner by getting four hits, scoring one run and breaking a 1-1 tie with a two-out RBI double in the sixth inning. There was an ump show that resulted in, first, the ejection of Mariners catcher Mike Zunino and, then, manager Lloyd McClendon. And say this: Whatever fine comes to McClendon, he got his money’s worth. McClendon ripped into all four umpires in turn and recalled some classic Lou Piniella tiffs by throwing and kicking his cap. It was all footnotes and prelude because Rodney couldn’t hold a one-run lead in the ninth inning against the bottom of the Yankees’ order. Rodney issued a leadoff walk to Chase Headley but retired the next two hitters before disaster struck. Pinch-hitter Brian McCann flicked a single into left that moved Headley to third. Drew yanked a 1-2 fastball into the right-field corner for a RBI double. Tie game. Rodney did hold the tie, and stranded runners at second and third, by retiring Brett Gardner on a grounder to first. Still, it was a blown save, his third in 17 chances, and snatched a victory away from Mike Montgomery, who worked six strong innings in his big-league debut. It also took Yankees starter CC Sabathia off the hook for a loss. The Yankees loaded with bases with one out in the 10th inning after Wilhelmsen failed to cover first base on a sharp, bad-hop grounder to first baseman Logan Morrison. The result was an infield single for Headley, but Wilhelmsen escaped that jam when Carlos Beltran grounded into a double play. The Mariners got a leadoff single from Kyle Seager in their 10th, but Rickie Weeks popped up a sacrifice bunt, and Wilson turned it into a double play. Yankees manager Joe Girardi pulled Sabathia with runners at first and third with two outs in the sixth inning of a 1-1 game. Sabathia had worked around nine hits at that point while throwing 94 pitches. Jackson lined a full-court fastball into center against David Carpenter for an RBI double and his fourth hit of the game. But the Mariners settled for just one run. They left runners at second and third when Willie Bloomquist flied to right. That missed chance came back to haunt.